A Nightmare's Dream
by CartoonCaster21
Summary: Uniqua has a frightning nightmare and is not looking forward to going to bed that night. Lucky for her, not only does she have friends who care about her, but a certain friend goes his way to comfort her. Fluffy oneshot.


**A Nightmare's Dream **

Uniqua jerked up with a scream. Taking notice that she was in her safe bedroom, protected in her bed, she calmed herself down. The door to her room quickly opened as the lights flicked on. It was no other than her mom and dad.

"Uniqua!" her father said worriedly from his position in the doorway.

"Sweetheart, are you okay?" her mother asked, rushing over to her as quickly as she could run in those fuzzy slippers of hers. Uniqua witnessed as her mother took a seat on her pink coloured bed and looked down at her. "Darling, what happened?"

Uniqua shook her head. She tried to shake away the memories of the all-too-clear images in her mind. "I had a nightmare." She simply replied. It was awful, and scared her out of her own pink polka-dotted skin. She didn't mean to then, but Uniqua unintentionally drifted off into thought, remembering her horrifying nightmare. Unknowingly, her dad walked over. He frowned seeing how scared his little girl was.

"Sweetie," her mom began, placing a hand on Uniqua's. Uniqua looked up at her mom who seemed as if she was the one who had gone through the nightmare. She seemed bothered, like those disturbing images were running through _her _mind and not _Uniqua's_. "Do you want to talk about it?"

As soon as her mom had asked, Uniqua was already shaking her head. Talking of the nightmare would only make her think of it more, needing to tell it out was almost as if she was going to relive that crazy dream. "Are you sure?" her mom asked seeing Uniqua's answer. "I'm sure mom. It was nothing, really. It was just surprising. That's all." Uniqua said, giving a reassuring smile.

Her mom studied her for a few more minutes. "Are you positive dear? If you want, I could make you some hot chocolate with some cookies, or I could–"

"I'm fine, mom." Uniqua repeated, cutting her mom off. Her mom was about to protest once more, but was stopped by Uniqua's dad. Her dad placed a hand on her mom's shoulder. "C'mon Ursula, if Uniqua says that she's okay, then we should believe her," Uniqua half-smiled. Her mom was always so protective like this, but, weren't all mothers like that? Especially if they had only one child – their "pride and joy", and for Uniqua, she and her friends each stated that either their mom or their dad was like that. In Uniqua's case, it was her mom. Her dad was much more laid-back and carefree. This was more surprising since he always did say Uniqua was his "little girl" – but when there's an over-protective parental, the other was usually the one to pull them off with supportive words.

With a sigh, Uniqua's mom agreed and stood up. Uniqua was grateful. Not like she didn't want her parents, but she wanted her space at that moment, and if her mom was around with that worry, that wish was gone. She had to thank her dad, for he always gave Uniqua chances to do things on her own. "If you need anything sweetie, just call." Her mom said switching off the room's light. Uniqua chuckled, "Mom, I'll be fine. Not like I'm taking off or anything."

"Okay, well…goodnight darling." Her mom said, leaving the room's doorway. Uniqua waved goodnight as her dad closed the door behind them. "Night sweetie." He called.

Uniqua sat silently by herself at the picnic table that following morning. Well, she wasn't actually alone. Her friends were there with her, but she wasn't with them. It was a cool November morning; leaves of all colours blew off of the trees into the cool air, or landing on the dead yellow hey-like grass. Or so it used to be grass. Tyrone was chasing leaves with Pablo, the two playing their own little came on Catch the Leaves and whoever caught more, won the game. Tasha was sitting on the tire swing that hung strongly from the hibernating tree. The tire swing was new and recently hung up that past summer. Uniqua remembers how the five of them were playing in the front yard when they took notice of Mr. Gecko from across the street. He was struggling as he hauled boxes into the back of his red pick-up truck. The five friends dropped their game to go and help the elder with his work.

"Thank you very much kids." Mr. Gecko had said. "I'm not as young as I used to be. My back won't let me do much no more."

"It was no problem." Tasha had smiled politely.

"Happy to help," Pablo said, had been flashing his cocky smile.

"Hey Mr. Gecko, you missed something." Austin said had been pointing out a lone tire that sat next to the truck. Mr. Gecko looked at the tire and scratched the back of his head, as if trying to think of something. "Well Austin, guess I did." Mr. Gecko chuckled. He was always a man of life, no matter how old he was.

"Say, what are all those boxes?" Pablo asked had he been eyeing the boxes that they had helped the elder load onto his truck. "Junk," Mr. Gecko replied. "Stuff I ought to have gotten rid of years ago. It's all headed to the junkyard. I have no use for it."

"Even the tire?" Tyrone asked.

"Yep, it's got a hole in it. I can't repair it, and if I did, it could never work on me driving with it."

"Hmm…" Uniqua thought. She had always had that type of mind, a way of thinking up planes. "Maybe it doesn't have to go to waste. Maybe none of this stuff has to Mr. Gecko."

"Eh? Just what is it you're thinking of?" Mr. Gecko asked with curiosity. That was when the tire swing was born. Able to patch up the hole with tape, the five filled it with air and with some rope from Mr. Gecko's garage, it was hung in their backyard so it was put to use. And the other items in the boxes went to use too. Not far away, there was a donation box that items such as clothes and old tables were useful for families. Mr. Gecko had donated a lot that day, and he had Uniqua to thank for it. Everyone won, Mr. Gecko got rid of all those extra items, the Donation Centre received an amazing amount of items for the families, and the Backyardigans got a new swing.

All thanks to Uniqua.

Anyway, back to the recent time, that was the story of the tire swing. Austin was too sitting by his lonesome, having his small purple nose stuck in a book. He had gone to the library yesterday with his parents for adult reasons. While his parents were chatting with some employee on the computer, he had stated he found a really interesting book. He told Uniqua she was free to borrow it once he was done, and Uniqua was overjoyed. She had always had a bit of a love for reading. The book sure sounded interesting too, at least from what Austin told her over the phone last night.

Looking at him now, it wouldn't be long for her to read it. Austin seemed to have gotten pretty far into the book from just receiving it yesterday. It seemed he had about…fifty more pages or so? A cool breeze blew. Uniqua tucked her bare hands into the pockets of her light pink coat. _Boy its cold today, _Uniqua thought to herself. If only that was the only thing she was thinking of. No, the nightmare from last night was still haunting her mind. It was so abysmal, and she just couldn't forget it. The images, the feelings, even the voices were still ringing in her mind as clear as her mom's crystal cups.

"Uniqua?"

Uniqua looked up, shoving away as much as she could of her nightmare. She didn't know when he did it, but somehow, Austin had gotten up from his place from under the tree, forgetting his book, and had taken a seat next to his distressed friend. He looked at her with his dark purple eyes. "Uniqua?" he repeated, as if trying to see if she actually heard him.

"I hear you Austin, what's wrong?"

"Well, I was gonna ask _you_ that." He said in his usual timid voice. No matter what, the shyness Austin had was there to stay, even with Uniqua who was therefore his best and closest friend. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing," Uniqua replied quickly, turning her gaze back to the once-green grass.

"Then…what's _right?_" he asked. Uniqua was silent, for she had no reply. It seemed that got Austin to smirk a tiny smile under the thin blue scarf he wore over his light baby blue coat. Uniqua sighed and looked up, just then noticing her other friends had come around her. She could've giggled, seeing Pablo and Tyrone, arms full of fallen leaves, but at that moment, she couldn't bring herself to laugh. Not after, that nightmare…

"Say _something_ Uniqua," Austin said, almost sounding as worried as Uniqua's mom last night. _Is he worried about me? _Uniqua thought. She murmured soundlessly before replying, "Something," causing her to receive some giggles from her friends.

"What's up Uniqua? You're so down today, it's not like you." Tasha said, now joining in the chat. She sat in a proper pose on the grass, probably in a certain way for no stray pieces to land on her ruby-red jacket.

"Do you wanna play with us?" Pablo offered. "Or do you wanna play a different game?" Tyrone asked, but still clutching onto his share of leaves in case he and Pablo returned to their game. Uniqua turned down the suggestions. "I'm sorry guys; I'm just not in the mood to play."

"_What?!_" the four Backyardigans gasped together.

"Uniqua Pink, _doesn't _want to play?" Pablo said, clearly shocked and stunned.

"Okay, now we _know _something is wrong." Tyrone added. Geez, sometimes it was as if those too were twins. Ending off each other's sentences…like that was somewhat cool and creepy, but more on the awesome side. Maybe it was just like that with people who were as close as brothers.

"Are you sick or something Uni?" Tasha asked, showing concern for her.

"No, it's nothing like that." Uniqua said, still sounding pretty dull.

"Then what's going on? How come you're so sad?" Tasha asked, pressing further into the question to get an answer. Uniqua sighed and looked at her friends. "I…had a nightmare last night." The silence that followed was really awkward and long. Really though, it wasn't _that _awkward, but it did feel never-ending. It seemed all the noises, every movement was tuned out. Then, to throw off the silence, Uniqua added, "It was really scary, and, I just can't stop thinking about it."

"Do…" Austin began, but had drifted off after only one word. "Do you want to talk about it?" Tasha said finishing Austin's lost sentence. Uniqua shook her head, but hesitated to do so. "I'm sorry guys, but I'm trying to forget the nightmare, and talking about it will only cause me to remember it more."

"Don't worry Uni," Pablo said, smiling for the comfort, "we understand."

"Right!" Austin agreed. "We've all had 'em, and we've all hated 'em. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, but if you do, that's okay too."

"Whatever you're better with." Tasha grinned. Uniqua smiled, relived. She actually felt lighter, like the weight on her had been taken off her shoulders, just by letting her friends know of her nightmare. Why was that? Maybe their support was the hands taking her weight away, but at the same time, they were the gravity that kept her from floating away. "Thanks guys." she happily said. Her friends returned the happy feeling, probably from the happier feeling that they had accomplished in making Uniqua feel better. "Say, can I ask you guys something?"

"Sure," Austin said.

"Whatever you want," Pablo chirped.

"How do you guys cope with it? How're you guys so calm? You seem to not be afraid of nightmares. Why?"

Another silence came over them that day as the questioned melted into the air. "Um…well, I guess remembering that their not real helps." Austin suggested, trying his best to answer the question.

"I know they're not real and that they can't hurt me, but they still scare me. Don't nightmares still scare you? How do you seem so steady?"

"Well, I have a nightlight in my room. When I get scared at night, I'm always relived to know that it's on and I'm not completely surrounded by whatever it is in the dark." Tyrone admitted, exposing one of his secrets that only _very _few knew of. Pablo for one knew of Tyrone's nightlight.

"I have Teddy with me. Whenever I'm scared, he's right there. One of his hugs just makes me feel better, and I'm not scared anymore." Pablo explained, spilling out his own secret.

"I have a music box in my room. It plays during the night, so if I get a nightmare, I wake up to the familiar tune and I guess it's comforting to know where I am." Tasha said, remembering of the red painted music box, propped and prepared in her room.

"I have something similar to Pablo," Austin clarified, "Robot Roscoe. It's just great to know he's there with me. I like knowing that something is there with me. Something I really care about too."

"Hmm…" Uniqua thought out loud. "I don't have a nightlight, or a teddy bear, or a music box, or a robot toy. I don't really have anything _special_. Anything really that I care about or that's supporting. Maybe that's why I feel insecure when I have nightmares."

"You need something very special by your side." Tyrone informed. "Something you really will care about and love, something that will help you know you're not alone."

"Maybe you could sleep with something your parents gave you." Tasha suggested. "I guess…but I want something that's _really _special then. I mean, something that I will really care for, not just an object I'll randomly pick from my past." Uniqua said.

"Too bad we can't sleep at your house every night." Pablo joked. "You love us and care for us and we all mean a lot to each other." Everyone managed to laugh. "If I had you guys at my house, I'd _never _have another nightmare again." Uniqua stated, informing her friends. Her friends seemed to grin, lightly blushing. That was really kind of Uniqua to say, knowing that she cared for them that much.

"Uniqua!"

The five friends turned around seeing Uniqua's mother in the backdoor's way. She was wearing a warm-looking turtleneck and sweatpants. "Uniqua, you have to come in now. Remember? Grandma is coming and I need your help with the cleaning."

"Oh yeah," Uniqua thought aloud, remembering that her grandmother was coming today for her usual visits. Uniqua turned back to her mom. "I'll be there." Her mom flashed a smile at the kids, and then disappeared back inside the house, closing the door behind her. Uniqua jumped off her seat from the picnic bench and faced her friends. "Well, I gotta go. See you all later?"

"Sure," Tyrone agreed, giving a smile. "I have to go anyway too. My mom doesn't want me outside too long."

"I should get going too. Make these leaves into some kinda trophy." Pablo said, joking as he showed off the leaves he still clung onto. Tyrone smirked, but with some sort of jealous grin for knowing Pablo won their leave-catching game. He was gonna go on of that for weeks now until Tyrone won at a game.

"My mom promised to take me shopping. I need new boots for the snow soon. I saw these really cute floral ones in the mall the other day! You'll never believe what colour they are!" Tasha began, going on and on. She was about to announce the colour of the must-have-boots when her friends cut her off, "_Red!_" they all said together. Tasha nodded with a pleasing smile. "Isn't that great? I'm aiming to find a matching hat or something."

"I have a project to get to." Austin said simply. Sometimes the young kangaroo would set himself a little personal goal of a project. Right now, an idea hatched into his mind and he couldn't wait to get started on it.

"Okay, well, I'll see you all later then," Uniqua said, walking over to her door. She turned back to her friends and gave a wave. "Bye."

Austin ran through the door of his house. His mother, who was in the kitchen, probably endeavouring to bake a pie, glanced through from the other room. "Hey sweetie, did you have fun?"

"Yep," Austin said while hanging up his coat. The moment Austin had dealt with his outside wear; he darted to the stairs and began to climb them up towards his room. His mom came out from the kitchen and looked up the stairs. "Austin, where're you going? Don't you wanna help me make a pie? I need my little helper." Ever since Austin had learned to make pies from Tyrone, he and his mom had been baking them since for fun. She had called him her "little helper" every time since then. She had also told his aunt and her friends how her son made such good pies and how she would've burned the one they were currently eating if it wasn't for him. This really didn't bother Austin much, mainly since he wasn't the only one, but it made him feel good that he was good at something else besides his technical works (and of course his musical talents) at such a young age.

"Not right now mom." Austin replied from the top of his stairs. "I got something I want to do."

"Alright sweetie," his mother called. "Please don't make a mess up of your room…or yourself. Dinner is soon. Your father's bringing pizza."

Austin promised he wouldn't make too bad of a mess, then walked into his room. His room was much neater then Pablo's or Tyrone's. Pablo's room was just a complete disaster with toys of every shape and form, lying over clothes of all types hiding the floor and most of his bed, and every time Austin and his friends would venture into Pablo's room, it never seemed to improve, but actually seemed like some item had been added to the mess. Tyrone's room was messy, but at least you could walk in, unlike Pablo's. Tyrone mainly left small clothing and toys on the floor, but at least you could tell there _was _a floor under that mess. No, Austin's room was clear, minus the few stray shirts and papers that sometimes lay on the floor.

Austin hopped over to his desk where his computer sat. That desk wasn't just for his computer to hog; it was his "work desk". His dad had built it for him shortly after moving into the neighbourhood so Austin wouldn't have to work on his bed all the time. Normally, Austin would go on the computer or do drawings at his desk, or even some writing, but today, he had his mind set on a goal. He wanted to get working on it before the day was completely drowned out by the night.

"Let me see, I need glue, string…" Austin said to himself while he searched the desk's drawers, hunting for these objects. He eventually found them and began his work. Austin worked hard. He was to himself for about an hour before a light knocking interrupted him.

"Come in," Austin said, not even looking at the door or bothering to get up to open it himself. He was too into this project of his. At the moment, he was trying to tie little knots with the string, catching his fingers at least twice.

It was his dad. His dad opened the door calmly and looked over the room for Austin. "Austin?" his dad asked. "Hi dad," Austin answered, again not even looking up. His dad walked in, fully pushing open the door. He made his way over to his son's "work desk" and stood behind Austin's chair, observing what he was doing with the string around his fingers.

"What're you working on buddy?" his dad finally asked, having not the slightest clue why his son was tying string around his fingers. "A project," Austin answered. He was concentrating on tying the perfect knots, ones to never come loose. (Not really easy considering you don't even wear shoes to practice knots with)

Austin's dad watched for a few more minutes. Suddenly, he remembered why he had come up in the first place. "Hey buddy, I brought pizza. Aren't you gonna come eat?"

"I'm kinda busy right now." Austin quickly answered, never taking his eyes off his work. There was a silence, his dad thinking on what to do. "Okay then, if you want some pizza later, we'll save you some."

"Okay, thanks." Austin said as his dad nodded and walked over to the door. He silently closed the door and walked down the stairs. "Well?" Austin's dad looked over to his wife who was waiting at the bottom of the stairs.

"Nope, he's at his desk again. You know how Austin is once he gets his mind set on something."

She nodded in agreement. "Yes, but, what is he making? Did you see?"

"I don't know. He was toying with some string. He seemed really determined to complete whatever it is he's working on. I say we don't bother him. When he's that resolute, I think it's best to let him finish."

"He hasn't been this focused on a project in a while. In fact, I've never really seen him this focused on _any _project before…well, except on that toy robot you got for him."

"Yes, he's a smart boy alright."

"I wonder what it is he's working on now. It must be really important for him to skip out on a pizza dinner."

Meanwhile, Austin had never turned away from his project yet. He worked and worked for at least another hour before he was finally done. By then, the time on his alarm clock that sat on his nightstand next to his bed read 7:15 PM. He still had time. Smiling, Austin gently grabbed his project off his desk and swung open his door, enthusiastically running down the stairs, going two steps at a time. Once he was down the stairs (amazingly, he hadn't fallen) he hopped over to the door and pulled on his boots.

"Austin? Is that you?" he heard his mother's voice from the living room. "Yeah mom, it's me." Austin called. He knew both his parents were in the living room, watching TV together – one of those grown-up shows that he wasn't allowed to watch.

"Mom, dad, I'm gonna step out for a minute." Austin informed, grabbing for his coat.

"Bud, isn't it a little late? It's almost your curfew." His dad called out to him.

"It'll be no more than a minute, I promise."

"Please be careful sweetheart." His mom reminded. _Sweetheart_…just what every boy wants to be called by his mother. Austin sighed, but with a smile. His mom was so protective of him. Firmly holding onto his project, he reached out for the door with his other hand and walked outside.

The evening air was chill and Austin had to pull up the collar of his coat to act as a windbreaker for him. It didn't do much for his ears – they were too tall – but he had made the smart decision in wearing his hat that shared a resemblance to his favourite shirt. Once used to the night's air, Austin made his way down the path. He didn't walk far at all, just next door. Stepping onto the front porch, he got up to the door and reached up to the doorbell. Difficulty overran him. The doorbell was too high for him, and he was the tallest of his friends. Instead of the doorbell, he easily knocked on the front door three times before stepping back for someone to open it.

The door opened, and there standing was Uniqua. She was already dressed in her pyjamas, unlike Austin who under his coat, still had on his shirt and jeans. Her pyjama top was a light pink shirt with _Dreams _written across it in a loopy type of handwriting. Her pants were white, matching the fuzzy slippers she wore over her feet.

"Austin?" Uniqua asked in surprise. She felt like to ask if he had realized the time, seeing it was almost 7:30 at night, and she was to go to bed now.

"Hi Uniqua," Austin replied shyly.

"Um, hi," Uniqua replied, but couldn't help but show the shock on her face. "Austin, I don't mean to be rude but, do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Sure I do." Austin answered. "It's almost time for bed."

Uniqua nodded dully. How was she to fall asleep after having such a disturbing nightmare?

"I figured you would have trouble sleeping tonight." Austin said, as if reading Uniqua's mind. She looked at him as he continued on, "I thought about how we all have something we love and care for, something that makes us feel safe – so, I made something for you."

He held it out to her. The project he had worked on for almost three hours. Uniqua's eyes widen. The item was circular, a net of strings like a cobweb hung in the middle of the circle. Hanging from the object were three strings, each having their own beads, ending with feathers. Uniqua observed the object Austin had just handed to her. It actually resembled to a net, or a spider's web.

"Wow Austin, it's beautiful." She then slightly blushed. "What _is _it?"

Now Austin blushed. He looked down and shuffled his feet slightly. "It's a _dream catcher_." He explained. Uniqua, still looking over the "dream catcher", turned her gaze over to the shy 'roo boy and repeated the term, "A dream catcher?"

"Yeah…uh…" Austin was lost for words. He thought to himself and gathered up some more courage to speak up. "A dream catcher is like a net. It's like a binding string too. With one of these, you'll _never _have another nightmare again. You hang the dream catcher up in your room, above your bed. When you sleep, all the nightmares and bad dreams will get caught in the web while all the good dreams will pass through the hole in the middle, slide down the feathers, to you."

Well, Uniqua didn't think she'd _ever _heard Austin say so much in all his life. But that's not what she had been focusing on. What just ran through her mind was that Austin actually took the time to make her this lovely gift, for her to never have to deal with another nightmare again. She felt her cheeks go red, and she knew she was blushing. Lucky for her, her cheeks were already naturally pink, and it was dark outside, so, it didn't show too much. Austin wasn't so lucky, being a somewhat dark shade of purple, had it easy for you to see the light pink shade on his cheeks.

"I know it's not something that you _love _or _care about_, but, I hope it'll help with the nightmares." Austin added, still looking shyly into the ground. That's when Uniqua hugged him. She walked out into the cold air and wrapped her arms around Austin in an embrace. "Thank you," she said. Austin was surprised at first, not expecting the hug, but gladly returned it.

Uniqua pulled away slowly and looked at her friend. "Thank you Austin. I _love _it. What makes it so special is that it was given to me by someone I _really care about_." Austin didn't know what to say. What did Uniqua mean by that? Was she…was she telling him that she _liked _him? No, that couldn't be it. Or, maybe it could be. He wasn't sure, he was still coming over the surprise of Uniqua unexpectedly hugging him – and now coping with what she had just told him. Uniqua giggled and held the dream catcher carefully in her hands.

"I…have to leave now." Austin said, pulling his collar more around his face, hoping to hide his blushing from Uniqua. Uniqua nodded and waved goodbye as Austin walked down her porch and towards his house.

Uniqua lay on her back in her bed, gazing up at the dream catcher that now hung over her bed, over her head. Maybe it really worked, she wasn't sure, but she noticed that once the dream catcher had been hung, she felt comfortable and safe. "Austin…" Uniqua whispered to herself, thinking back about the 'roo boy. She had been trying to piece together about how Austin actually took his time to make this beautiful dream catcher for her. That was so sympathetic of him. She couldn't help but smile. The dream catcher was so stunning, she really admired it. Looking up at the dream catcher that dangled over her, she thought about what had happened at her door an hour ago…then whispering once more, "I love you."

**There we go! I hope y'all adored this little oneshot. Dang, I really, **_**really **_**love writing oneshots for the Backyardigans. And of course, this story **_**had **_**to feature my fav Backy couple – Uniqua and Austin are just so cute! I love them together. **

**The idea actually came to me by my own dream catcher. I was just thinking to myself how it protects people of nightmares, and then the idea just came to me! I hope I was right on posting it. **

**Soulripper13 is the one who came up with Uniqua's last name "Pink" in which I think suits her very well. **

**If you enjoyed the story, plz R&R – no flames, stop playing with fire people! This is CartoonCaster21, I enjoyed writing this story, and I promise I will update my other stories soon. See y'all later!**

_**AustinXUniqua Forever! **_**Supporters, show your love! ~3**


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